Balwantrai Gopalji Mehta ((1899-02-19)19 February 1899 – (1965-09-19)19 September 1965) was an Indian politician who served as the second Chief Minister of Gujarat state, India.

[2][3] He also remained President of Servants of the People Society (Lok Sevak Mandal), a social service organisation founded by Lala Lajpat Rai, in 1921.

During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, on 19 September 1965, then serving chief minister Mehta flew in a Beechcraft commuter aircraft from Tata Chemicals, Mithapur to the Kutch border between India and Pakistan.

[5][6] In August 2011 Qais Hussain wrote to Jahangir Engineer's daughter apologizing for his mistake, stating that a "civilian plane was mistaken for a reconnaissance aircraft by Pakistani controllers, and he was ordered to shoot it down".

[6][7] The Department of Post, Government of India has issued a special postage stamp of face value INR 3.00 to commemorate his 100th birth anniversary on 17 February 2000.